Strategic Overview

An Agency of Change for Portland

Prosper Portland released a new, five-year strategic plan in 2015. The plan focuses our work on building an equitable economy, especially communities of color and those who have been historically underserved.

With its plan Prosper Portland seeks to empower people, communities and businesses to thrive in the regional and global economies, thereby increasing the percentage of households living at or above self-sufficiency by 2020. In doing so, we will ensure that Portland—the city we love—becomes one of the most globally competitive, equitable, and healthy cities in the world.

What Drives Us

Attaining the goal of widely shared prosperity among all residents of Portland requires our deliberate and equal focus on four key areas:

Quality jobs

Our programs provide Portland companies with access to new markets, technical assistance, and loans so they can grow and hire. We also connect Portlanders with better access to job training and job opportunities and support companies in a range of high-growth sectors that create quality jobs.

Widely shared prosperity

We support small and growing businesses led by diverse entrepreneurs to thrive in innovative sectors and on main streets. We prioritize property ownership and real estate projects within communities of color and in low-income neighborhoods to create assets that can be passed on from one generation to the next.

Collaboration with our partners for an equitable economy

Collaboration with community-based organizations, the private sector and other public entities is central to the success of our job-creation, place-making and economic opportunity work across Portland. These partnerships ensure that the gains from economic growth and development benefit all communities, especially communities of color and those historically underserved.

Vibrant neighborhoods and communities

Our work strengthens Portland’s unique communities by building and increasing access to healthy, complete neighborhoods—those with essential goods and services, connected to jobs, with transportation options and access to open spaces—throughout the city. We also support innovative civic solutions that promote mixed-income neighborhoods with both affordable and workforce housing, and that evolve in ways that honor cultural diversity.

To achieve these goals, we are committed to continual evolution as an agency of change, and operating in an equitable, innovative, and financially sustainable way.